1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to a wireless communications system and, more particularly, to a system and method for cell planning and cell layout within the wireless communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Broadband wireless communications systems are increasingly employing OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) as the underlying radio PHY (physical layer) technology. The extensive system design advantages of OFDMA are documented extensively in existing literature. OFDMA as a general technology has a wide scope and the industry is producing several variants and configurations that seek to achieve maximum performance. IEEE 802.16e and WiMAX standards introduced a scalable OFDMA (S-OFDMA) system architecture that enables network service providers to economically address the diverse business and regulatory wireless requirements throughout the world. IEEE P802.16-2004, Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks, Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems. The scalable FFT sizes, flexible channel bandwidths, and various cellular frequency reuse schemes offered by these standards produce a remarkably agile system.
Despite these progressive technical advances, all existing strategies continue to operate within a paradigm of fixed channel bandwidths that do not always permit an operator to reach optimal spectral efficiency. Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a spectrum allocation strategy that increases spectral efficiency and utilization. Some of these strategies, such as the strategy described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/055,169 filed on Mar. 25, 2008 by the inventors of the present application may include using channels having frequency bands with overlapping portions. Therefore, a need exists for cell planning systems and methods configured for use with overlapping channels. The present invention provides this, and other advantages, as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.